


The Spiral Crypt

by Celix



Category: Overlord - Maruyama Kugane & Related Fandoms
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fantasy, Kingdom building, This story will take a while to get to the Overlord characters just a heads up
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-27
Updated: 2019-08-08
Packaged: 2020-07-20 14:41:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19993882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Celix/pseuds/Celix
Summary: As the world that Harper once knew was coming to it's end they decided to spend their time with a friend and to witness their funerals before being born again into a new world. Little did they know that the world they would be born into was more unforgiving and real than the game they had spent the last half decade in. Now as new characters join the story and begin making strides into a new world what nations will rise from a small hunting post and how will this new world be changed forever as Gods walk among the mortals and humans die in waves as they are left to the whims of their station, their country and to anyone who is more powerful than them.





	1. Transference

## Transference

### Chapter One

The rain beat ferociously against the weary body. The thunder boomed high over head as if fought with the light that filled the sky and the hungry eyes around the injured form. The shattered sickle’s final gem flickered as the glow faded. The broken form mended together once again as it stood just a little taller than before.  


“I just got here damn it! I am not going to die before I even get to see this new world. Come and die!” A primal roar exploded from the bloodied lips as the figure took a step forward only to be pushed awkwardly into a second step by a force into their back. 

As the encircled silhouette lightly fingered the pointy piece of metal sticking out of their chest, its sister appeared beside it forcibly causing another awkward step forward before they fell to their knees. The flashes of light the once brilliantly exploded the darkness away became fainter and fainter as the sensation of swimming overtook the fading figure. 

“Is this really how I die? I get to come to this magical place, and I don’t even get to see anything but the fucking woods.” The world began to fade at a faster pace and the feelings of weightlessness overtook their conscious. 

“Shit…”

As the thoughts of consciousness were just about to snap and be released to the whole of the world once more, darkness enveloped the thinning soul.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The day had finally come. Many had hoped that maybe they would announce that the closure was no longer going to happen and that the game was going to stay live, but to no avail. They final day for Yggdrasil to be alive came on a very raining day. Two lonely people stood looking over two small tombstones laid carefully in the ground. 

“This is how we all end up one day. Forgotten and buried in the mud.” A voice said, talking at nothing and in a low monotone.

“I know we may have spent the last five years of our lives on this game, but its still just a game Harper.” A rough sounding woman said to the smaller figure. 

“I know, let me mope a little. You know how much money I’ve sank into this game.” Harper whined childishly at the woman. 

“More than me, and I’ve put more into than I’ll ever tell me husband.” She said with a chuckle.

Harper took a moment to enjoy the simple beauty of the world around them and how it had been so expertly crafted with skill and care. Harper enjoyed how the undisturbed forest around them was just a cover for their quickly shrinking guild that lay nearly dormant below them. Over the past few weeks they had been restructuring the guild to prepare it for the end. 

Harper had altered the location of the entrance and placed enough heavy stone slabs over the tunnel to fill the entire path to the first room. The location had been chosen as the perfect hiding place for their hideout. It was just outside of a small town where few people went due to the low level of monsters and loot in the area. Just enough of an opening was left open for the entrance to constitute as valid in the game logic. And the slabs were set to collapse when the trap was triggered. The rubble would vanish, but it would block the path for a few seconds before the game would remove the material. 

As the members of the guild began to trickle down to the last few remaining players, Harper continuously downgraded their crypt to cut maintenance cost. In the beginning they tried to grind the materials and gold that was needed to maintain the costs, but Harper did have a life outside of the game and it was hard to justify choosing the needs of a game over the needs of your physical life. 

With the help of Sophia and a few of the remaining guild members Harper was able to keep their crypt alive and accessible for its storage and workshop capabilities. During the Spiral Crypt’s boom, the base extended deep into the ground for miles and miles but to cut costs Harper sold more and more of the land permits they had until only the bare minimum remained.  
“So, you got your husband watching the kids tonight?” Harper said distantly.

“Yeah, he’s not very good at hiding his enthusiasm for the game shutting down.” She said with a heavy sigh.

“Well you do have a family to take care of instead of playing a game.”

“I’m not as bad as I once was.” She said spamming the pouting emoji. 

Sophia looked at the countdown and sighed before she looked back at Harper. “So, did you do a reset again? You’re not at cap anymore.” 

“Yeah, went back to Soul Reaver. Dropped all my other levels and kept the ten for the class.” 

“You never did tell anyone how to get that class did you.” She said poking at Harper.

“Nope…wanna know?” Harper said with a hint of mischievous and clicked on a mustache twirling emoji. 

“Sure, can’t exactly spill the beans about something that doesn’t exist anymore.” She said shrugging.

“Valid. I was clearing out a crypt, shocking I know, and I fell through a coffin into a tunnel below it. The monsters weren’t too special. At the end of the tunnel there was a weird NPC just sitting at a table reading a book. He didn’t have any dialogue, so I killed him to see if he dropped anything and boom.” 

“That’s a little anticlimactic. I thought you found it through some epic quest. Sophia said pouting more. 

“Nope, fell in a whole and killed a guy.” Harper said laughing.

“You got a super OP class from some mob drop. Some people have all the luck.” 

“Yep, that’s why I was never really worried about anyone else getting it. I’ve surely spent the most time in the crypts and I never found another mob like that again. Sides it not that OP to be honest. A lot of it is cool and fun but if people knew how it worked, they would be able to take it down easy enough.” Harper finished nonchalantly before returning to the gravestone.

“Fair.” 

After another minute of awkward silence Harper spoke. “Do you have any games lined up for after this?” 

“Of course, like three. You?” Sophia scoffed at Harper.

“Five.”

The two friends broke out into a fit of laughter for a minute before the mood sobered again. 

“Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.” Sophia said taking her turn at staring up at the clouded night sky.

“It was.”

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The final few minutes of the game were spent in silence and contemplation of the twinkling stars that were peaking out behind the rain clouds high above. 

The clock counting down was somehow calming for Harper as they waited for the end. The final ten seconds were the longest ten seconds of their life. Harper closed their eyes in preparation of the sudden wave a nausea that is associated with being booted from a game. The expectation was slowly driving Harper crazy.

“Come on already.” Harper opened their eyes and looked at the clock in the right hand of their vision. It was past midnight, but they weren’t booted from the game. “Why haven’t we been kicked? I should be sick and in the dark all alone.” Harper chuckled at themselves before raising their hands to their head quickly to remove the headset. Instead of the cold feel of the headset they smashed their hands onto their ears. 

“Fuck! What the hell.” With their ears ringing Harper looked around and saw the still twinkling stars but it was different. The surroundings were cold and unfamiliar, yet the gravestones still stood at their feet. 

“Harper! Harper what the hell is going on. Where is my headset, where is my room! What the fuck is going on.” Sophia was yelling manically. 

Rubbing at their ears Harper said, “We probably got ported to a waiting area so that we can port out normally.”

“Your fucking mouth is moving.” Sophia yelled.

“Quit screaming. Of course, my mouth is moving, I’m talking.” The annoyed and confused Harper said.

“No Harper, you fucking mouth is moving.” Sophia said pointing at Harper.

“My mouth? You can’t see my mouth moving, the game doesn’t allow that.” Harper said confused.

“Can you see mine moving.”

Harper watched her mouth move even before her sentence was finished. It was now Harper’s turn to freak out to. “Your fucking mouth is moving!” 

“Now you see why I’m freaking out. It’s cold, I can feel the cold and wet. I can’t take my headset off.” Sophia nearly screamed as she started pacing around, grabbing at her head.  
A wave of calmness washed over Harper. “Calm down, I’m sure there is a reason for what’s going on. We might just not have gotten kicked yet.”

“Then why can I feel the cold. Why is your mouth moving? I have to get home, it’s my turn to make coffee for in the morning.” Sophia screamed becoming more and more manic as the seconds passed.

Suddenly a strong gust of wind threw the two terrified players to the ground painfully. Flying over the treetops, a massive monster soared past and disappeared into the distance. Harper watched as the flying creature shrank in the distance. “Was that a dragon?” 

“I have to get home. I want to log out. Why is it not letting me Harper? You know I can’t handle being trapped.” Sophia said as she began to hyperventilate. 

“I think that was a dragon Sophia.” Harper said as they looked excitedly into the distance.

“Harper! I don’t give a damn about a dragon right now.” Sophia screamed at the top of her lungs. 

“I’m sorry. Let me think for a minute. We have to contact an admin since we can’t take our helmets off and we can’t log out. That’s the only way for us to get out of here.” Harper said as they worked themselves through the steps.

Suddenly Sophia went very calm. “There is another way, when we die, we have the change to log out.” She drew her sword in a smooth motion. 

“Sophia wait just …” 

To late. Sophia plunged her sword into her chest in a strong fast motion. She let out a gasp of pain and fell to her knees. 

“I have to get home…Why does it hurt? Harper what’s going on.” She said, every second becoming weaker.

Harper rushed to their friend’s side. A wave of emotion tried to rise within Harper, but it was roughly suppressed to a dull roar below a calm surface. 

“It’s okay. Everything is going to be fine. We’re going to meet up again and talk about this over coffee tomorrow.” The lies came so easy to Harper, but they refused to think about that right now.

“Yeah?” Sophia said barely audible. 

“Totally, and we’re going to make so much money when we sue them. We won’t have to work another day again. You can just stay home and play with your kids all day.” Harper’s voice began to crack the more they spoke.

Violent shivers racked Sophia’s body as blood splashed from her mouth. “That would be nice. I could finally relax some.” Her sentence came to an abrupt end. 

The calm ocean of Harper’s emotions boiled and erupted past the force that subdued it as Harper let out a primal roar. They screamed and raged at the wild around them until they finally collapsed. The waters of their emotions calmed and once again became pristine. 

Once Harper calmed again the mourning of their dead friend was being distracted by something obscuring their vision. Harper tried to swat it away, but it did not move. Focusing their vision onto the object Harper saw that it was an icon that said, ‘new message’. Clicking on it a large list began to populate onto the message screen. The confusion that clouded Harper’s mind faded away as the realization that this list was their friends’ inventory. At the bottom of the growing list was the option to deposit all into the guild storage. 

The calm waters once more tried to boil but Harper pushed the anger away and selected deposit all to make the message go away. Holding the body of one of their best friends’ slow tears began to pour down their face. Touching their face Harper was confused even more by the liquid that was on their face. Harper felt their friend begin to feel lighter and lighter until suddenly they faded from their arms and the message icon reappeared. 

_Transfer of items to guild storage complete._

And just like that Harper was alone and confused in an unfamiliar place.


	2. Another Adventure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The world is about to change in ways very few know but so far the many do not know and these few adventures are just trying to get a paycheck.

The further the small group traveled from the city and closer to their desired location, the more the landscape began to change. Once they passed the final settlement of people the trees began to grow more aggressively and closer together. Countless years of fires and logging had decreased the population of the trees, but one short decade of time and the forest was growing untamed once more. 

Before the goblins had infested the woods, the surrounding towns used this forest to sate its hunger for construction. But as the goblins increased and support from the capital dwindled, so did production. The scarcity of wood was very appreciated by the nobles who owned their own mills elsewhere and so the vicious cycle continued. Until there were only the bravest or the most desperate who went to the forest for wood or to loot the abandon buildings that the forest were quickly reclaiming. 

The small group broke for camp among a small thicket of trees a few hours before night fall. The crackling fire set the mood for laying the plans of tomorrow.

“We’re currently an hour from the fort. I didn’t make it inside, but I did scout at least twenty goblins on guard.” The small man covered in leather said methodically.  


“How many do you think are actually in the fort, Seak?” The armored woman asked.

“If the guard and size of the fort are anything to go off of, I would say between eighty and a hundred.”

“That’s a lot of goblins.” The priest said gripping her staff tighter. 

“A goblin is just a goblin. Any adventure can kill some goblins.” The robed man scoffed at their priest. 

“It’s easy for you to say Kelver. All you have to do is stay in the back and be protected the whole time.” The warrior said angrily as she threw a piece of wood into the fire.

“Get bent Elaine. We wouldn’t made it past those bandits if it wasn’t for me. If anything, I deserve a bigger cut of the reward. And I would even say a night with you.” The skinny made said full of himself.

“You wish you were man enough for me. I don’t go for the damsel in distress types.” She said nearly spitting at him.

“Fuck off, that didn’t stop you at the tavern.” He said with a wicked grin.

“Fuck you. I was drunk and I don’t even remember. That’s how impressive you were.” She finished angrily grabbing onto her sword hilt. 

“I wish I had been drunk. It might have made it better for me, instead of you just laying there the whole time.” He said with a laugh.

Elaine took to her feet in anger and halfway drew her sword. “I will kill you right now and be happy with your cut of the goblin ears.”

“Guys, we’re almost done. If you wanna fight do it once we’ve been paid. If I don’t get paid, then there will be blood.” Seak said calmly without looking from his map. “Let’s just all calm down and focus on what we were paid to do.”

“Get to talking then Seak.” Kelver sneered.

Without taking his eyes from the sketch Seak spoke in a bored tone. “I’m not getting paid enough to deal with this. Thirty … maybe fifty more sets of ears and it would be enough.” He paused to sigh before he continued with the debriefing. “It looks like the best entrance to get into the lower levels would be in a hole in the wall near the back of the fort. This is the heaviest guarded entrance though, so they will need to be dealt with first. After that we’ll be in the kitchens. From there it should be down the stair way and the last door on the left or the right. If his recollections are correct that is. If they are, the white fireplace should be there, and the chest should be behind the wall.” 

“Of course, the slimy bastard can’t remember which room. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was already gone.” Kelver sneered.

“At least we will be walking away with more ears than we would have gotten by ourselves in this amount of time.” The priest said quietly.

“If we weren’t, none of us even be here. You think I would have teamed up with any of you without there being money involved.” Kelver said looking away from the fire.

“You did it because no one else would team up with you, even for money.” Seak said, his voice filled with boredom. “So, we’ll be there just before dawn when they are the most tired. I’ll move in first to clear away the guards and any stragglers. Once its clear I’ll signal for you to join me and then we’ll descend and find the fireplace. Once we have the chest we’ll withdraw and regroup. If it looks like we can kill more goblins, then we will and if not, we’ll head back to Re-Lobell as quickly as possible.”

“Does it look like it’ll be tight quarters, and does it look like they have a lot of bows?” Elaine asked.

“Your ass had pretty tight quarters.” Kelver mumbled.

Elaine simply took another piece of wood and threw it at the fire. The throw was too hard, and it went over the fire, by Kelver. She got up calmly, as Seak continued to speak, to grab the wood. Instead of picking the piece up she threw a punch directly at Kelver’s face. He was knocked off the stump, onto his back, unconscious. 

“Don’t heal him till morning Allin.” Elaine said as she walked back to her chair, gently tossing the wood into the fire.

“Why did you even sleep with him.” Seak said in the same bored tone he’d had all night.

“Like I said, I don’t even remember it. Last thing I remember was drinking at the bar and then it was morning.” She said as she dropped into her chair to stare at the fire.

“Well once we are done here, you’ll know never to take a job with him again.”

“Damn right I won’t.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The groundwork is being laid but first we need to see where these adventurers end up.

**Author's Note:**

> This is just the start of a super long slow story to get these characters settled before they meet the denizens of Great Tomb of Nazarick.


End file.
